The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been something of a mixed bag for everyone who's watched it, and I doubt that there has been a single person who's enjoyed every project equally, or even at all. For myself, I often found the films that tried something new to be the more interesting ones. A regular man who puts on a suit of armour and fights robots in a setting I recognise might be unusual and entertaining, but it wasn't anything that wowed me. Instead, it was the times when we were able to see the fantastical that really sold the amazing creativity of comics, like the alien worlds Guardians of the Galaxy, the magic of Doctor Strange, and in one of the most exciting things the MCU has done, the afrofuturism of Black Panther.
Originally debuting in Captain America: Civil War, the character of Black Panther was an immediate stand out, and fans were quickly demanding a solo movie for him. Thankfully, audiences didn't have to wait too long, and a film followed two years later. Marvel Studios' The Infinity Saga - Black Panther: The Art of the Movie charts the creation of the film from an art and design perspective, giving readers and insight into costume designs, sets and locations, and props, all of which had to be constructed from scratch to bring the world of Wakanda to life.
Despite being set on Earth, Black Panther had to create much of its style from scratch, unable to just rely on standard filming locations and costumes bought from stores. The nation of Wakanda is in some ways like the alien worlds that inhabit the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, where every detail needs to be considered and crafted. However, the design team weren't just creating things out of whole cloth, as they were able to draw upon the rich histories of the people and cultures that make up the continent of Africa, combined with science fiction elements, to craft something unique.
The world of Black Panther is perhaps one of the most mainstream examples of afrofuturism, an art movement that combines cultural and artistic expressions from across the history of the African diaspora, including religion, and philosophy, to create a vision of a liberated identity. This is something that is very central to Black Panther, with Wakanda being a nation that was never conquered by the white colonialist oppression of nations such as England and France. This has been a part of Wakandan history since its creation in the comics, but the details vary from creative team to creative team. This means that whilst the general theme of Wakanda's visual aesthetic has been established the film was open to explore in in a variety of directions.
Across the various chapters in Marvel Studios' The Infinity Saga - Black Panther: The Art of the Movie you can see where different inspirations have helped to shape the designs. There's a section of the book that explores the various tribes of Wakanda, complete with both colour and gorgeous black and whit epencil sketeches, that showcase not just the unique looks of these groups, but also explains the real world inspirations, such as the Tuareg people of Sahara the inspired the Merchant Tribe, or the Etheopian Karo people who's look helped to shape the Jabari Tribe. Moreso than any other book in the Infinity Saga series this is one volume is one that not only makes you appreciate the work that went into the film, but inspires you to go further afield, to look more into these real cultures and their history.
Marvel Studios' The Infinity Saga - Black Panther: The Art of the Movie does what the other volumes does, it goes into the design elements, it shows how these evolved from initial concepts to what we ended up with, it has storyboards, CGI models, and huge double page spreads. As with the other entries in the series the quality of the book itself is excellent, with gorgeous, thick glossy paper, attention given to the binding and image layout to reduce image loss on cross page images, and the textured finish on the hardcover itself is wonderful.
If you're endeavouring to collect the entire series I imagine this entry is already going to be on your list of books to buy, but if you're only wanting to pick up one or two of them and aren't sure which you should go for this is definitely one that should be a contender for top place. Black Panther was a huge cultural milestone, and whilst this book leaves you completely satisfied it does also feel like discovering the tip of the iceberg as it gives readers an insight into a whole world of art and culture that they might not have been aware of; one that you'll find yourself wanting more of.
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